<A HREF="http://www.columbia.edu/~pm47/afram/index.html">Click here: Aframerindian Slave Narratives index</A> http://www.columbia.edu/~pm47/afram/index.html Bright Star

http://www.tribal.com/ <A HREF="http://www.tribal.com/">Tribal Voice, makers of PowWow: Instant MessagiÉ</A>

Hi List, For all who are America Online Members aka AOL , Please take note: Junk mail is any unsolicited advertising, promotional material, or other forms of solicitation masquerading as an e-mail message. In addition to being a nuisance, junk mail can carry dangerous Trojan Horse programs. These programs come to your mailbox as e-mail attachments disguised as software, screen savers, photos or some other offer of free products. If you mistakenly download one of these attachments, the Trojan Horse program captures your password and mails it back to the hacker's e-mail address. NEVER download files from someone you don't know! These hackers risk permanent cancellation of their AOL memberships. If you've received junk mail, either with or without attachments, please report it by fo rwarding the junk mail to this screen name: TOSspam.

In a message dated 6/25/0 1:53:54 AM, [email protected] wrote: << <A HREF="http://www.indians.org/library/subenv1.html">Click here: Environmental Justice - Native Americans and the Environment</A> Native Americans and the Environment http://www.indians.org/library/subenv1.html Bright Star >> Wonderful find! thanks so much for sharing this one! We need to all take note about our environment & what is being done to it. Its most important that we all try to do something, even if its something little, every little bit helps. blessings Turtle/ So glad you posted this informative link!

In a message dated 6/25/0 2:06:56 AM, [email protected] wrote: << <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/5649/">Click here: Appalachian Quarterly Magazine, Wise County (Virginia) Historical Society</A> Appalachian Quarterly Magazine, Wise County (VA) Historical Society A magazine which regularly covers items on Melungeons. Link to the Melungeon Registry, which traces family histories of many Melungeon families. List of common Melungeon names. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/5649 Bright Star >> Thanks! This ought to be fun~!

<A HREF="http://www.honoradvocacy.org/">Click here: HONOR's Native American Support and Resource Information Center</A> Honor Our Neighbors Origins and Rights (HONOR) HONOR's Native American Support and Resource Information Center grew out of desire that Native Americans be treated with respect and "Honor" in terms of United States law, treaties, the courts and the constitution. http://www2.dgsys.com/~honor Bright Star

<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/5649/">Click here: Appalachian Quarterly Magazine, Wise County (Virginia) Historical Society</A> Appalachian Quarterly Magazine, Wise County (VA) Historical Society A magazine which regularly covers items on Melungeons. Link to the Melungeon Registry, which traces family histories of many Melungeon families. List of common Melungeon names. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/5649 Bright Star

<A HREF="http://www.indians.org/library/subenv1.html">Click here: Environmental Justice - Native Americans and the Environment</A> Native Americans and the Environment http://www.indians.org/library/subenv1.html Bright Star

<A HREF="http://www.mastiffassociation.org/">Click here: The Mastiff Association for the Rights of Indigenous and Colonial People</A> Mastiff Association, The Dedicated to protecting the rights of indigenous and colonial people. http://www.mastiffassociation.org Bright Star

<A HREF="http://search.aol.com/redirect.adp?appname=QBP&query=%72%a9%24%58%0e%a7% 90%7c%ad%6f%5f%87%b5%b7%77%cd%1a%e2%b2%90%75%22%a7%f4%57%c6%5c%71%c6%96%94%32% ce%f7%79%23%14%3e%bc%ed%76%a8%ca%b3%d1%da%8f%a3%5c%52%c5%ad%88%67%d0%29%3a%f3% 4b%66%ec%29%60%0a%65%de%22%e8%27%1c%d1%92">Click here: The Sayana Wolf Trust</ A> The Sayana Wolf Trust Documents a cultural educational project, Native American 2,000, for two Native Americans to visit the UK to work in schools sharing their music, traditional and environmental teachings with the children. http://www.sayanawolf.org Bright Star

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Marriage in heaven > >On their way to a justice of the peace to get married, a couple had a > >fatal car accident. The couple found themselves sitting outside Heaven's > >Gate waiting on St. Peter to do an intake. While waiting, they wondered > >if they could possibly get married in Heaven. St. Peter finally showed > >up and they asked him. St. Peter said, "I don't know, this is the first > >time anyone has asked. "Let me go find out." and he left. > >The couple sat and waited for an answer - for a couple of months - and > >they began to wonder if they really should get married in Heaven, what > >with the eternal aspect of it all. "What if it doesn't work?" they > >wondered, "Are we stuck together forever?" > >St. Peter returned after yet another month, looking somewhat bedraggled. > >"Yes," he informed the couple, "you can get married in Heaven." > >"Great,"said the couple, "but what if things don't work out? > Could we also get a divorce in Heaven?" > >St. Peter, red-faced, slammed his clipboard onto the ground. > "What's > >wrong?", asked the frightened couple. > >"COME ON!" St. Peter shouted, "It took me three months to find > a priest > >up here! Do you have any idea how long it will take me to find > a lawyer?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bright Star

Something to think about It was one of the hottest days of the dry season.We had not seen rain in almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving milk. The creeks and streams were long gone back into the earth. It was a dry season that would bankrupt seven farmers before it was through. Every day, my husband and his brothers would go about the arduous process of trying to get water to the fields. Lately this process had involved taking a truck to the local water rendering plant and filling it up with water. But severe rationing had cut everyone off. If we didn't see some rain soon...we would lose everything. It was on this day that I learned the true lesson of sharing and witnessed the only miracle I have seen with my own eyes. I was in the kitchen making lunch for my husband and his brothers when I saw my six-year-old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. He wasn't walking with the usual carefree abandon of a youth but with a serious purpose. I could only see his back. He was obviously walking with a great effort...trying to be as still as possible. Minutes after he disappeared into the woods, he came running out again, toward the house. I went back to making sandwiches; thinking that whatever task he had been doing was completed. Moments later, however, he was once again walking in that slow purposeful stride toward the woods. This activity went on for an hour: walk carefully to the woods, run back to the house. Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I crept out of the house and followed him on his journey (being very careful not to be seen...as he was obviously doing important work and didn't need his Mommy checking up on him). He was cupping both hands in front of him as he walked; being very careful not to spill the water he held in them.. maybe two or three tablespoons were held in his tiny hands. I sneaked close as he went into the woods. Branches and thorns slapped his little face but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much higher purpose. As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing site. Several large deer loomed in front of him. Billy walked right up to them. I almost screamed for him to get away. A huge buck with elaborate antlers was dangerously close. But the buck did not threaten him...he didn't even move as Billy knelt down. And I saw a tiny fawn laying on the ground, obviously suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap up the water cupped in my beautiful boy's hand. When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run back to the house and I hid behind a tree. I followed him back to the house; to a spigot that we had shut off the water to. Billy opened it all the way up and a small trickle began to creep out. He knelt there, letting the drip drip slowly fill up his makeshift "cup," as the sun beat down on his little back. And it came clear to me. The trouble he had gotten into for playing with the hose the week before. The lecture he had received about the importance of not wasting water. The reason he didn't ask me to help him. It took almost twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands. When he stood up and began the trek back, I was there in front of him. His little eyes just filled with tears. "I'm not wasting," was all he said. As he began his walk, I joined him...with a small pot of water from the kitchen. I let him tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was his job. I stood on the edge of the woods watching the most beautiful heart I have ever known working so hard to save another life. As the tears that rolled down my face began to hit the ground, they were suddenly joined by other drops...and more drops...and more. I looked up at the sky. It was as if God, himself, was weeping with pride. Some will probably say that this was all just a huge coincidence. That miracles don't really exist. That it was bound to rain sometime. And I can't argue with that...I'm not going to try. All I can say is that the rain that came that day saved our farm...just like the actions of one little boy saved another. I don't know if anyone will read this...but I had to send it out. To honor the memory of my beautiful Billy, who was taken from me much too soon.... But not before showing me the true face of God, in a little sunburned body. Author Unknown Bright Star

<A HREF="http://www.libertynet.org/kwru/">Click here: Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign</A> http://www.mcs.net/~speakers/ Check this out, I found it in mt MOTHER JONES issue for June. Bright Star

In a message dated 6/24/00 11:46:58 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: << our attorney was representing Peabody Coal Company at the same e time he was negotiating the coal lease on our behalf. >> Turtle, If the statment above is accurate, you can void that contract , in a court of law. It would clearly be CONFLICT OF INTEREST, for him to represent both partys. You may want TRIBEL lawyers to look into that aspect. And have them file a paper with the courts. Bright Star

Come visit BLACK DUTCH AMERICA website to read the latest family news! The following items that were added on Friday, June 23: -- NEWS -- ---------------------------------------- RE: Trish please read was added by Patricia Hernandez. ----------------------------------------

Dear friends, Below is Leonard Peltier's statement for the 25 year memorial and honoring at Oglala. We will be unable to answer emails until June 29. If you need to communicate with us, please send your messages after June 28th. Thank you. In Solidarity, LPDC June 26, 2000 Greetings Friends and Supporters, Twenty-five years has passed since the fatal shoot-out on the Jumping Bull Ranch occurred, and for twenty-five years I have been forced away from my people and my home, which I consider Oglala to be. I miss being with all of you as I have always loved and respected the Lakota ways. I have always admired the Lakota people, especially the Oglalas for their strength, determination, and courage to continue the struggle to maintain our traditional ways and sovereignty. Not a single day passes when I do not dream of being home with you. Twenty-four years is a long time to be in prison, but if I was out and you were facing the same kind of brutality you faced under the Wilson regime, I would not hesitate to stand next to you and resist the violent oppression you were forced to endure. But I am not out, I remain locked up in here, and it has not been an easy 24 years. Prison is a repulsive, violent place to exist in. But again, none of this could stop me from standing with you until the great Oglala Nation is free. I know a lot of problems continue to exist for you. Corrupt tribal government officials are still taking advantage of the people and crimes committed against Natives receive little if no priority. It makes me very sad to know that after everything we went through in the 1970’s our people still continue to suffer so much. The memory of all of those who lost their lives during that time also continues to haunt me As we gather together during this time of remembrance, I am aware that the FBI has also organized a 25-year memorial for their dead agents. I do not fault them nor do I disagree with what they are doing. I think all people should gather in memorial for any of their fallen. But, when you analyze this whole event of theirs, you are slapped in the face with the cold reality of racism. Not once have they, nor will they mention our fallen warriors and innocent traditionalists slaughtered in the 70’s after Wounded Knee II. They will not even as much as mention Joe Killsright Stuntz. We cannot even get an acknowledgement from them that they were wrong in supporting such a cruel and corrupt regime as Dick Wilson’s. They continue to deny that any Indian people were killed as a result of their direct input with the terrorist squad, the GOONS. The fact is they do not think of Indian people as human beings. Whenever you deny that such atrocities happen, and we know they did happen, it only means they don’t consider the people who died to be human. Hitler’s regime felt the same about the Jews. But please don’t misunderstand my frustration for a lack of sympathy about the loss of the agents’ lives. I do feel for the families of the agents because I know first hand what it is like to lose a loved one. I have lost many loved ones through the years due to senseless violent acts. If I had known what was going on that day, and I could have stopped it, I would have. But in order for us to bring reconciliation to what was a very difficult time we first must have justice. We must continue to ask when the lives of our people will be given the same respect and value as others. When will they stop carelessly locking up our people without applying the scrutiny and care the judicial system is supposed to guarantee? When will guilty beyond a reasonable doubt become a standard that applies to us? When will our guilt have to be proven, rather than assumed? We suffer equally, but we are not treated equally. There is hope for a better future and for peace. But in order for us to live in peace, we must be able to live in dignity and without fear. In closing, I want to say that your voices are important and your involvement in the effort to gain my freedom is crucial. You know the truth and only you can express the reality of those brutal times. It is also important that you explain to the youth what we stood for and why, because they are our hope for the future. They can carry out our dream for our people to have pride in their culture, good schools, food, and health care, and most importantly, justice. Please know that I continue to be here for you too, although I am limited in what I can do from behind these walls. However, I will continue help in whatever I can from here. The one thing my situation has brought me at least, is a voice, and my voice is your voice. So please do not hesitate to write me or contact the LPDC to inform me of what is going on. I am growing older now and my body is beginning to deteriorate. I sometimes wonder just how much longer I will be with you all on Mother earth. I hope that it’ll be a while longer because I long to be with you, my family and friends, to share some time together. If not, and I don’t make it home to you, I will always be with you in spirit, at every Sun Dance and Inipi Ceremony, remembering both the happy and the painful times we shared. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Leonard Peltier Call the White House Comments Line Today Demand Justice for Leonard Peltier! 202-456-1111 Leonard Peltier Defense Committee PO Box 583 Lawrence, KS 66044 785-842-5774 www.freepeltier.org

Anti-Mohawk bills ready to pass New York Legislature http://www.indiancountry.com/articles/headline-2000-06-28-04.shtml By Jim Adams ALBANY, N.Y. - In spite of furious last minute lobbying, two bills attacking tribal economies were poised to pass the New York State Assembly in the final hours of this year's session. A bill that would limit off-reservation casinos, such as the one proposed by the St. Regis Mohawks for the Catskill resort region, received the blessing of Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver, in a morning radio talk show before the Assembly convened. He said he would accept the version passed earlier by the New York State Senate by a vote of 61 to zero. Although the final Assembly vote took place after deadline, Albany observers considered Speaker Silver's endorsement made it a "done deal." The St. Regis Tribal Council would make a last-ditch appeal to New York State Gov. George Pataki to kill the bill, said tribal spokeswoman Rowena General. But an Albany insider said Speaker Silver would not have pushed forward without the governor's agreement. The St. Regis Council wrote to each legislator opposing the bill and also bought advertising in major New York papers. The ads replied to a previous campaign by an organization called the New York Institute of Law and Society that enraged tribal members. Tom Hunter, head of the Institute, admitted his attacks on the St. Regis Mohawks were financially supported by casino gaming interests. Another bill to control cigarette sales on reservations was also slated to pass. Although overshadowed by the casino controversy, the measure would hit reservation stores across the state. Buried in a public health measure and addressing cigarette sales over the Internet, it would require retailers on reservations to collect a state sales tax, General said. It would also limit shipments of cigarettes to and from retailers, a measure that has parcel delivery services up in arms. The sales tax measure is a real sleeper, since it would revive a controversy that caused violent demonstrations on several Iroquois reservations just three years ago. Hundreds of New York State police occupied the Seneca Nation's Cattaraugus Indian Reservation for two days. The issue was settled only when Gov. Pataki capitulated and agreed to end efforts by the state to collect taxes on reservations. Although the St. Regis Council is fighting both measures, the casino bill has drawn far more public attention. Gov. Pataki submitted the first version this spring, requiring legislative approval for gaming compacts for off-reservation casinos. Previously the governor had signed these deals on his own, but he faced court suits, charging he overstepped his constitutional powers. The bill was supposedly his way to void lengthy suits. But the bill gave an opening to Atlantic City casino interests which feared potential competition from a St. Regis Mohawk casino just 90 miles north of New York City. (The actual reservation is much further north on the St. Lawrence River. The tribal name is Akwesasne, Mohawk for "Land where the Partridge Drums," although it is more widely known by the political name for the St. Regis Tribal Council). Widespread and undenied rumors suggest casino mogul Donald Trump led the effort to restrict the St. Regis plans. The bill emerged from the Senate requiring both legislative and local approval for any compact, apparently through a local referendum. It also prohibited slot machines, a vital part of casino cash flow. Gov. Pataki's proposal allowed slot machines if the state government received at least 25 percent of the take. As a measure of the high stakes in the bill, the developer of the proposed casino, Arthur Goldberg of Park Place Entertainment of New Jersey, told legislators this week he had a billion dollars in the bank to invest in the Catskills, if they delayed the bill. In a story in the Albany Times Union, Goldberg said he planned Kutsher's Resort Hotel and Country Club or the Concord, both famous as once popular Catskills resorts, or the Monticello Raceway, as sites for the casino. Goldberg met with Speaker Silver. One insider reported that lobbying caused Silver to pull the bill from the Assembly agenda a week earlier but the delay was only temporary. Neither Trump nor Gov. Pataki's office replied to calls about the bill. On another anti-Indian front, Jeff Benedict, author of the book attacking the Mashantucket Pequots and their successful Foxwoods Casino, announced June 22, that he had signed a deal with DPL Productions of New York City to make it into a movie.

[source: NativeNews; Sat, 24 Jun 2000 10:06:02 -0400] <http://www.syracuse.com/news/madisonedition.ssf?/newsstories/madison/20000 624_racla im.html> Saturday, June 24, 2000 Land claim: Lots of talk, little change With an official end to negotiations in Oneida case, some turn to Congress. By Michelle Breidenbach Seventeen months of meeting and maneuvering have left the Oneida Indian Nation and Madison and Oneida counties no closer to resolving the 200-year-old land dispute they inherited and could likely pass on to others. U.S. District Judge Neal P. McCurn said Thursday the case should go to trial because it is clear the parties are unwilling to set aside their self-interest for a settlement that would benefit the greater community. McCurn, 74, has had the land claim on his docket since his appointment in 1979. He used words such as "intransigence" and "tragedy" to describe the failed attempt to negotiate a settlement. He called off formal mediation Thursday, but at the same time urged those affected by the claim to persuade their leaders to pick apart the tangled web of land rights outside his courtroom. McCurn said a trial would take at least four years. He has not set trial dates. The announcement left landowners and county leaders calling for help from Congress. "If they do not settle these jurisdictional issues, I'll move. I will not live in a community that makes decisions based on race," said Scott Peterman of Oneida, president of the group Upstate Citizens for Equality. "The only place you'll be able to get a job around here is for the Indians. Who's going to keep up the infrastructure? Maybe we should all quit paying taxes and let the roads all go to hell." Oneida County Executive Ralph Eannace wants Congress to convene hearings in New York on inconsistencies in federal Indian policy. "It is federal Indian policy, unbalanced by any concern for neighbors, that is threatening to rip our communities apart," Eannace said. Various parties said Thursday and Friday they would continue to negotiate the complicated jurisdictional issues, but it would be difficult to continue formal mediation. The parties also said they are preparing evidence and arguments about 26 land treaties from 1795 to 1846. The Oneida Indian nations of New York, Wisconsin and Canada, with support from the federal government, will argue the state violated a 1790 law when it signed those treaties without the required approval of the federal government. The nations have consulted with real estate appraisers, who can serve as expert witnesses in a trial, said William Taylor, a lawyer for the Oneidas of New York. The state and counties will argue that the treaties are valid. Eannace would not elaborate on the counties' legal strategy, but said a team of lawyers has been preparing for the past year and a half. He would not say whether the counties have lined up an appraiser. Little public debate has taken place in recent months about the validity of 200-year-old treaties. The discussion, instead, has concerned the Oneidas' sovereign jurisdiction on reserved Indian land. The sides are split over the maximum size of the Oneidas' reservation and whether the Oneidas are subject to state and local taxes. The sovereignty issue becomes more pressing as the 1,100-member Oneida Indian Nation of New York builds a patchwork of tax-free businesses on $25 million worth of real estate. In recent years, the nation has purchased at least 20,000 acres of farms, homes, commercial real estate and lakeside marinas. The nation owns and operates a multimillion-dollar casino resort, three golf courses, two Oneida Lake marinas, seven gas stations and convenience stores, a newspaper and a T-shirt printing shop inside the boundaries of the land claim. Madison and Oneida county leaders say nation businesses would have generated $3 million in county sales taxes this year. That figure is based on 3 percent of sales to non-Indians. The counties also estimate they have lost $2.3 million in property taxes in the past three years. "A failure to reach agreement on these vital issues will lead to an instability in Central New York and likely in other counties across the state that will cause poverty and further exodus from this state," Eannace said. On Friday, Eannace also called on residents to remain calm. "We urge everyone to keep this a legal battle and never a war between people," he said. The war between people began in 1998. Unhappy with the pace of settlement talks, the Oneidas labeled about 80,000 people trespassers and threatened to take their land, charge rent and assess damages for milking the land's natural resources for 200 years. Under the threat of eviction, settlement talks abandoned their turtle pace for the speed of a hare. The parties agreed to hire Ron Riccio, a Seton Hall University law professor, to oversee an intense mediation process. Dick Lynch, a member of the Oneida Indian Nation's Men's Council, said the nation still prefers to settle. "We put a lot of effort into it and I know all the other parties have as well," he said. "It's in everybody's best interest to settle."

[source: NativeNews; Sat, 24 Jun 2000 10:29:37 -0400] <http://www.navajohopiobserver.com/> Navajo-Hopi Observer- Columns Guest Commentary Hopi, Navajo water crisis continues Hopi 2000 Many Hopis remember when Moencopi wash in northern Arizona on the Hopi Indian Reservation was healthy, when the springs that watered our gardens were plentiful. Today we sense a tragedy occurring. Dozens of spring have dried up. Moencopi wash, where children once swam and played, is now bone dry, and underground water levels are dropping dramatically. Our elders warned that a tragedy is occurring beneath us, which is caused, they believe, by the massive water mining by Peabody Coal Company. But no one is listening. Instead, our protector, the U.S. Federal Government is telling us that the deep aquifers that fed our springs are health and that the pumping of pristine water from the dry desert plateau is not causing damage to our only source of drinking water. Yet the most recent (1997) U.S. Geological Survey Black Mesa Water Monitoring Report states that recharge to the confined Navajo aquifer is only 2,500-3,500 acre feet per year. Peabody, which began to slurry Black Mesa coal in 1970, is extracting 4,000 acre feet annually from this aquifer. Hopi hydrologists projected that at the present rate of municipal and industrial pumping, all deep wells in the Hopi communities alone will run dry by the year 2010. Many factors have contributed to the crisis. Most are buried in the details of the history of Black Mesa coal leasing. The facts paint a picture of deceit, violations of federal and tribal laws, conflict of interest, sloppy science, blatant exploitation of indigenous peoples and deliberate failure of the United States government to honor its legal and moral obligation to protect our land and water. We were never told the truth about the enormous quantity of water needed to slurry coal to an electric generating plant 273 miles away from our homeland on Black Mesa or the initial sale of ice-age water for $1.65 per acre-feet, or that our attorney was representing Peabody Coal Company at the same e time he was negotiating the coal lease on our behalf. We were assured that a vast sea of water underlies Black Mesa and that Peabody will use only "one cup" during the life of its mine, which could go on for another 40 years. The U.S. Office of Surface Mining (OSM), which oversees the Peabody mining operation, has never explained to the public the standard they have established to determine damage to our water resources. Furthermore, after 20 years of water monitoring by the U.S. Geologic Survey, we have yet to receive a report analyzing hundreds of pages of scientific to determine whether material damage can be identified based on OSM's damage criteria. We cannot turn back the clock. What has happened is history, albeit a history still unfolding. But we can end the abuse. Whatever the cause and however far along the damage, it is clearly the case that if we don nothing our only potable water will be severely and permanently degraded. Our society and the future generation of our children are at risk; it is for them that we appeal to you for help. If you wish to support our effort to end the continued abuse of the N-aquifer for coal slurry operation write to the Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240. if you wish to organize Black Mesa Trust support group, contact Vernon Masayesva, Director, Black Mesa Trust, 7617 E. Verde Lane, Scottsdale, AZ 85251 or e-mail [email protected] -Vernon Masayesva

Mixed Connective Tissue Disorder? Has anyone heard of this? Check this out! http://hometown.aol.com/lindartc/index.htm <A HREF="http://hometown.aol.com/lindartc/index.htm">http://hometown.aol.com/l indartc/index.htm</A>